The Governor of Madras, Mr. Grant Duff, has made a
small mistake, over which the London papers are absurdly bitter. The Madras Times published a minute by the Governor about his tour which was not intended for publication, and which, therefore, must have been obtained through some breach of con- fidence. In India, where there is little news that is not official,, and where it is necessary to guard the Departments against bribery, any encouragement to breach of confidence is regarded as a serious offence. Mr. Grant Duff, therefore, ordered that the offending journal should be refused all official infor- mation, and be deprived of all official advertisements. The first part of the order is just enough, if the minute was un- fairly obtained, and is, moreover, we believe, in accordance with regular precedent; but the second is unjust, the claim of the paper to advertisements arising not from its favour with the Government, or even its general character, but from its favour with the public. If the Madras Times had not that claim, it had none, and the taxpayer's money was wasted on it; while if it had that claim, the taxpayer's money is wasted in send- ing advertisements elsewhere. The blunder, however, is a very small one, and in no way evidence that Mr. Grant Duff is either unpopular or inefficient,—two words, we may add, which in India are not synonymous. No man ever was so unpopular in India as Macaulay.
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